NOVEMBER. 179 



many a feathery songster (now carolling in far-off 

 lands, or flitting along the woodside) was ushered into 

 life. 



But all is not barrenness, all is not desolation. Win- 

 ter, though it robs the trees of their leafy mantle, clothes 

 their branches and trunks in a garb of beautiful lichen, 

 exquisitely pencilled and delicately carved ; while the 

 bright green mosses, as they clothe some rough hewn 

 stone, dilapidated wall, or gnarled tree trunk, rival the 

 emerald in beauty, and the stems and trunks of the sloe 

 and whitethorn present, in their licheny coats of gold 

 and orange, a picture of beauty such as winter alone 

 can produce. 



But not alone does the vegetable kingdom present 

 to the eye of the observer a broad and varied field of 

 beauty, but the insect world also braves the chilling 

 blasts of the north, which, as if enraged that they should 

 have been pent-up so long under the glorious summer's 

 bounteous reign, sweep over the fields and woodlands 

 with impetuous rush ; for, on the hawthorn's stem, the 

 small Cheimatobia Brumaria may be found at rest in 

 the daytime, or seen flitting along the hedge-row in the 

 evening in search of his apterous spouse ; while, on the 

 trunks of the neighbouring birches, the larger, but 

 more delicate-looking, Cheimatobia borearia may be 

 found, but their apterous females but rarely, although 

 they frequent the same localities ; and, dancing about 

 in the fitful gleams of sunshine, the males of Chima- 

 bacche Phryganella sport their little day, while on the 

 trunks of the oaks their stay-at-home consorts may be 

 found. 



On old palings, in the neighbourhood of Putney, we 



